rinderknecht



(No Model.

J. LIPMAN 8v C. J. RINDERKNEOHT.

AUTOMATIC RAILWAY SWITCH.

910,479,373.` Patented July 19, 1892.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN LIPMAN AND CHARLES J. RINDERKNEOHT, OF INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, ASSIGNORS OF ONE-FOURTH TO FRANK X. BEAUPERE, OF SAME PLACE.

AUTO MATI C RAI LWAY-SWITC H SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 479,373, dated J' uly 19, 1892. Application filed November 28, 1891. Serial No. 4I3'450- (N0 11105619 T at@ whom t may concern: 8 designates the forward, and 9 the rear trip- Be it known that we, JOHN LIPMAN and connecting rods having their inner ends piv- CHnRLEs J. RINDERKNECHT, citizens ot the oted on the'disk-pins i0 and 11, said rods hav- United States, residing at Indianapolis, in the ing their opposite ends provided with racks 5 county of Marion and State of Indiana, have or gear-teeth formed thereon and adapted to invented new and useful Improvements in mesh with the gear-teeth formed on the under Automatic Railway-Switches, of which the peripheries of the trips 12 and 13. The trip following is a specification. 12 is jou rnaied between the jaws 14E and 15 of Our invention relates to an improved railthe trip-supportingstandard 16 and on its pin 6o 1o way-switch particularly applicable to street- 17, and the trip 1S is journaled between the railways; and it consists in improved means jaws 19 and 2O ot` the standard 21 and on the whereby the switch may be operated to open pin 22. On the bottoni edge of the switchand close. rail and at or near its point is secured the en- Itsobjects are to provide means wherebytlie gaging pin 23, adapted to neatly tit and to 15 switch may be thrown open or closed autoengage in the hole 24., formed in the face 0f matically by a trip-bar secured on the car; the disk 5, by which said switch-rail is caused also, to provide means whereby the trip-bar to open or close. will be maintained at a uniform distance from 25 designates th e tri p-bar adapted to engage the rails when lowered to operate the switch; the detents 26, formed on the top of the pe- 7o zo also, to provide means whereby said trip may ripheries of the trips 12 and 13, and having be raised out of or lowered into operating po the notch or recess 27 formed at or near its sition at the pleasure of the operator. Ve center, adapted to receive the axle 28 of the attain these objects by means of the mechancar 29, said bar having its top end adapted to ism illustrated inthe accompanying drawings, neatly t in the supporting-arm 30, secured to z 5 in which the car-frame.

Figure 1 is a plan of a railway-track, Show- On the top end of the trip-bar is formed the ingour switching attachment applied thereto. fork 31, adapted to receive the end of the le- Fig. 2 is a part sectional elevation ot the same. ver 32, to which it is jointed bya suitable pin Fig. 3 represents a sectional, an end elevation, 33, said lever being fulcrumed on the fulcrum 8o 3o andaplan View of the trip-wheeland its stand. 31, secured to the floor of the car, and said Fig. 4 is a sectional elevation of the throw-out lever being provided at its opposite end with disk of the switch. Fig. 5 is a plan of the a catch-lever 35, which we employ for the consame with the switch-rail removed. Fig. 6 is venience of the operator in holding said tripan end view of the ear, showing the trippingbar in its disengaging position, as required.

3 5 bar attached thereto; and Fig. 7 is a detail The standards 16 and 21 should be placed at perspective view of the switch rail or tongue. adi'stance from the points suflicient to insure Similar numbers of reference designate like the free operation of the switch-rail when the parts throughout the several views. car approaches or i'ecedes from the switch.

Referring to the drawings, l designates any By placing the disk 5 under the rails and con- 9o 4o ordinary railway-track, and 2 is a side track, necting the switch-rail 4 and the rods 8 and 9 all secured in the usual Way or any suitable to it direct the device is renderedvery simple manner to the ties 3. The switch-rail 4 is and effective, and is specially adapted for pivoted to the tie 3, or, if sufiiciently long, street-car railways, as no part of the device may be spiked thereto and sprung open or projects above the carriage-way, but is kept 45 closed. wholly between the rails and underthe track.

5 designates the switch-rail opening and The jaws of the standards 16 and 21 are prefclosing disk journaled on the pin 6, secuied erably made in the form of cams with their on its supporting-base 7, said base being inclines reversed,and willliereinafter be more iirmly secured by suitable bolts or screws to fully described and particularly referred to. Ioo

5o the rail-tie to form a iirm support for the disk The operation of our invention is as follows: 5 and the switch-rail resting thereon. To cause the car to be transferred from the main track to the side track, the button is released or disengaged to permit the trip-bar 25 to descend or fall into its operating position, the amount of the descent being limited by the play of the yoke 27 on the car-axle 2,8. As the car is moved in the direction of the arrow a the trip-bar 25 contacts with the detents of the tumbler or trip 12, thus causing the connecting-rods 8 and 9 to move and the disk 5 to rotate in the directions indicated by their arrows, and thereby moving the switchrail 4 into the position shown in Fig. 1. The trip-bar 25, being still in its engaging position and the car continuing to move along on the side track, approaches and contacts with the detent 26 of the trip or tumbler 13 to open the switch 4 and set it for the cars passing along on the main line.

It will be readily understood from the foregoing that the car on its return-trip will first contact with the detent 26 of the trip 13 to move it to close the switch to permit the said car to proceed to and on the main track, which in its passage contacts with the deteut 26 of the trip 12 to open the switch and thereby leave the main track open to traffic.

Referring to Figs. 3 and 6, the action of the trip lever or bar 25 and the cam-formed jaws 14 and 15 will be more readily understood.

It will be observed that the trip-bar 25 is placed at one side of or out of center of the car, so that in moving said bar over the trips the end will contact with the throw-out cam on one side of the trips 12 and 13, thus gradually disengaging the trip-bar 25 from the detent 26, and thereby avoiding all jar.

Having thus fully described the construction and operation of our invention, whatwe claim as novel and usefuhand desire to cover by Letters Patent of the United States therefor is 1. The combination, with a switch-rail and a pivotcd disk provided with a pin for shifting the switch-rail, of a ,rod pivoted to the said disk and provided with a toothed rack and an oscillatory trip provided with teeth engaging with the said rack and having a deteut arranged in the path of the trip-bar on the car, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination, with a switch-rail and a pivoted disk provided with a pin for shifting the switch-rail, of a rod pivoted to the said disk and provided with a toothed rack, a standard arranged in the center of the track and provided with reversely-inclined sides, an oscillatory trip supported in the said stan dard and provided with a detent and with teeth engaging with the said rack, and a trip-bar carried by the car and arranged to one side of the center of the track, whereby the tripbar is raised slowly out of contact with the detent after operating it to shift the switchrail according to the direction of the motion of the car, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOHN LIPMAN. (3l-IAS. J. RINDERKNECHT. Witnesses:

THOMPSON R. BELL, G. S. W. MACK. 

